The Fight

Every morning during the warm months for the last 10 years, I’ve been attacked by mosquitoes while sitting at my desk early in the morning in my classroom. Most of the time when I try to swat the blood-thirsty suckers midair, I miss and they quickly scurry through the air in a frantic jittery dance to safety.

But this mosquito this day did not fly off. He came at me boldly, caution thrown to the wind. It was the strangest thing. It kept coming at me, not like most mosquitoes that seem to flit about with an I’ll-get-around-to-biting-you-soon-enough attitude. No, this little bug charged straight at me in a Kamikaze dive-bomb.

And as I swatted and slapped at the thing, it just kept driving in hard and fast, zooming right up the middle, faking left, darting right, diving to my legs, hitting my flank, then up to my chest, then my ear, to my neck as I frantically swooshed my hands around my body, looking like a lunatic swatting and slashing and slapping at the air. But the thing just kept coming. It wouldn’t stop. Over and over and over again.

I couldn’t believe how committed this thing was!

And you know what? I have no idea whether the thing bit me or not. I could never get a good bearing on it. It may have won that little skirmish, or simply flew away, disgusted with the cowardly display of unmanly panic I displayed over a tiny bug. But it doesn’t matter.

That funny little mosquito taught me something important about persistence and goals and success, about life, really (I know, sorta sad when a grown man has to learn something profound from an insect).

Mosquito Boldness 101

You see, this mosquito of uncommon valor, saw what it wanted, and went straight to the source with every intention of hitting its mark. There was no surveying the landscape. No testing the waters. My assailant had no intention of slowly working its way up to the feast, starting slow and building nerve. No, it simply attacked. Driving and driving and driving with impressive determination, persistence and zeal as it pushed harder and harder scrambling to hit its mark.

Do we do that? When we get swatted by life, do we fly back into the game? Do we go up the middle? Do we keep pushing?

What do you want out of life? What kind of marriage do you want? What kind of relationship do you want with your kids? What kind of man or woman do you want to be? What kind of goals do you want to reach? What kind of life do you want to live? Are you doing everything you can do to create it? I mean, really, are doing whatever it takes? Are you committed to victory no matter what? Are you in it for good?

A Modern David and Goliath … sort of

Just my finger nail alone is something like 10 or 15 times larger than that mosquito was. Not to mention my hand. Or my whole 6’4” frame flailing about. That little dude didn’t stand a chance. And yet there it was fighting against a giant for what it wanted. It would have been the same had I gone up against a Tyrannosaurus Rex on steroids with only a sharp itchy stick in my hand!

Is that the kind of determination you have? Do you have that kind of stamina? Is that the drive you have when you pursue your goals? If not, why not?

Are you hurting in life? Has the economy crashed down on top of you? Does it feel like your family is starting to fall apart? Is work overwhelming? Is your business teetering on the edge of collapse? Have you fallen off the wagon again?

Embrace your inner Mosquito

Life can be exciting and adventurous. But it can also be profoundly difficult. Are you ready to take a stab at life like my mosquito took a stab at me? Are you willing to fly hard and push and push and push until the mountain has been moved?

That is, after all, the blessing behind the trial. We are given opportunities in life to test our stamina, to build our backbone, to rise to the occasion and fly like that mosquito did with total abandon toward its mark. That is the test, the dividing point between those who are crushed by life and those who become something grander than they ever imagined they could be.

Sometimes our problems loom very large before us. But if a little mosquito can muster the nerve and wherewithal to attack a giant, I trust that you can attack the giants in your life too!

So let your inner mosquito free and go at it!

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30 Comments

Ken: I never thought it would be great to be as ambitious as a mosquito;) Great post and really great message. We really do have to persevere and always be willing to do anything and everything we can to move in the direction we desire.

This is one of the best blog posts I have ever read anywhere! I laughed out loud and was inspired at the same time. Your description was brilliant. I almost started swatting the air around me while I was reading it.

This one made me laugh out loud! I hate mosquitoes and they never seem to go away no matter how much you swat at them!

I really like how you can find something so small and minuscule, yet learn something important from it. I believe that’s what life is all about–learning from the little things, and actually being aware enough like you to actually acknowledge them!

I’ve been married for a little over a year now, and I’ve realized that if I want a certain type of marriage, I have to be a certain type of person that will allow that for me. With that in mind, I have a lot of things I need to change and a lot of growing to do. Then again, no matter how long I live, there will always be room for improvement and growth! Although I have imperfections, it is my “inner mosquito” that keeps me persevering and continuing to try, even after hundreds of fails. Thank you so much for this inspiring post! Your words are so motivating!

That means a lot to me, BWJ! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and for your kind words.

Mosquitoes are the worst, aren’t they? I agree with you that life lessons are all around us everywhere. Would I have recognized that lesson had I not been a blogger? Truthfully, I don’t know.

That is one of the advantages of doing what I do, I guess. I’m likely more tuned to such things because I’m actively looking for them. But if we all had the same passion for growth that you obviously have, many more of life’s little reminders would be noticed.

You are a person of great wisdom, BWJ! I love what you said about needing to become the kind of person who has the kind of marriage you aspire to having. We are all imperfect beings living in an imperfect world imperfectly trying to learn and grow and slowly, bit by bit, reduce the degree of that imperfection. So welcome to the club. The whole world is in that one!

So keep on feeding that inner-mosquito of yours! I’ll be feeding mine right along side you!

Love this Ken, masterful mosquito wisdom that’s got a real buzz!! You know what they say, the bigger they are the harder they fall which he proved with his full on mission to take a chunk out of you. So using that we should also aim for our largest obstacle or hugest project and become a mosquito missile and stay true to our aim. There’s no flys on you Ken…like it!

Thanks for stopping by, John! And yes, they do say that about the bigger they are, just hoping it’s not so true in all cases! I don’t like to fall.

But I like where you took the mosquito lesson — to aim all our persistence at the biggest obstacles in our lives as well. But those can sometimes be very difficult. We like to procrastinate the big issues, the ones that seem so daunting. But you’re right, of course. The biggest obstacles in our lives require the biggest effort and most persistence.

That is one great and funny story you got there lol definitely know what you mean when it comes to mosquitoes. I’m in the Philippines now and there are millions of those here. lol Pretty amazing at times when insects actually give you an epiphany. One of my favorite are the ants. How they carry things way bigger than their size, they walk in 1 line and each bump each other like they’re saying hello and when one of them is down, they carry that loved one and do their best to bring it to safety. Amazing! That is one determined mosquito you mentioned tho. LOL 😀

Thank you! I just hope the little bugger doesn’t have any family in the area! 🙂

Nature does provide lots of little lessons if we’ll look. I love what you said about the ants! Thanks for sharing that. My 5-year-old son likes to park himself on our back porch and watch the little critters scurry about looking for food. Then sure enough, as soon as they find some, they start communicating with the others and they form that ant line you spoke of. I crouch down with him sometimes and we talk about those same things you mentioned. It’s fun to use the things around us to paint little moral lessons for my kids. They can relate so well.

Great blog post Ken, really enjoyed it! My inner mosquito is having a wail of a time with the run up to my 40th Birthday in 2012! I’ll be battling my giant by swimming with sharks and climbing a mountain. Sometimes, you just have a take a stand and go for it! x

Wow! That’s awesome that you’re going to celebrate your 40th with sharks and a climb! You’re an inspiration! Which mountain are you climbing?

My wife is a certified scuba diver. My daughter has snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef. And I … uh … well, I once got wet at the beach! 🙂 Actually I love to swim. Was on my high school swim team and did some snorkeling in Hawaii many, many years ago, but sharks? Will you be in a cage, or just well guarded by trained shark-repelling dolphins?

Have an amazing 40th birthday and 4th decade of life on this amazing little planet of ours!

What can I say Ken, you’re wife and daughter are really brave! I’m far more like you on beaches and near the ocean. I may dip my toe in, occasionally!

Personally, I’m terrified of sharks. It’s a phobia that, much to my own amusement, sometimes has me panicking in a swimming pool when I’m alone. Yes, really. Sad I know!

I shall actually be doing this crazy thing at a place in Liverpool (UK) called The Blue Planet Aquarium. When my friend suggested it, I honestly thought that they must be cute, little gummy sharks. But no, they have a 12ft long one with teeth. On the plus side, I no longer panic when I look at the website, though of course, it can’t bite me through the screen!

As for mountains, it’s our very own Ben Nevis in Scotland that I plan to tackle for the first time. Since having a serious walking accident in 2003, I’ve not done much steep stuff! So, it’ll be somewhat of a challenge as I need to reclaim my fitness too! Still, with all the badminton, ice-skating, learning karate and gym sessions to support me, I’m sure I’ll be fine!

I certainly plan to celebrate the 12 month run up to my 40th with all these amazing things! Then it’ll be 50 things for 50 and maybe I will venture out into open sea :o)

I absolutely love how you are so aggressively in-you-face with your phobia! No baby steps with you! Going straight from magazine to swimming with them. That’s just so awe-inspiring.

Sharks in the pool, huh? That’s so funny. I remember when I was a kid and saw the movie Jaws for the first time. I had the same exact issue! Of course it’s impossible, but my heart still raced when I went for a swim in the backyard at night!

I did the martial arts thing too when I was in my 20s — Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai and a Philippino martial art called Escrima or Kali (goes by either name). But that was a long time ago! Now I have trouble touching my toes! 🙂

Love this Ken. Now every time a mosquito comes at me it will remind me of this story and you. There is a lot of truth in this post. And thank you for using it to motivate me, because now I know that I will keep going. If a mosquito can do it so can I. LOL

You have a great day and blessing to you. I have an extra fly swatter, would you like to use it?
Debbie

Ha! Yes, send the flyswatter over! And thank you for your kind words, Debbie. I guess there are worse things to think of whenever a mosquito comes around!

In the end, there are really only two options, right? Keep at it, keeping our hands on the wheel, driving forward, or shift to idle and let the curve of the road determine where we end up drifting to. Usually, that means the gutter. Thanks for your drive and all the wonderful work you do!

It’s always wonderful to see you here! I absolutely agree with you about preferring flow to pushing through life. That’s a great point. Thank you for making it.

But I’ve found it often (usually?) takes a bit of pushing to get to the place that allows flow. It’s kind of like running. At some point in the run, you’re often just yanking legs by force of will to take the next step, and then the next. But at some point (and usually after having run for some relatively significant length of time), you slip into that flow, you spoke of.

At the beginning, writing requires pushing through barriers (internal and sometimes external) until the fluency, ability and great idea meet at the same place at the same time and flow seems to lift you like a wave up and over obstacles.

That’s how I’ve experienced it in my life, anyway. At least in those initial stages (but for me, not only then). Have you had similar experiences? Or am I just a slow learner (which very well may be!)? 😉

Hey Ken,
I totally get the persistence of the mosquito. I was talking to an older successful friend of mine yesterday about money and business. He was telling me that the key is to be like an animal and keep your blinders on so you don’t get distracted, give up.

I have an amazing daughter with an amazing talent at the piano. Her teachers have tried to get her to focus exclusively on her music. One professor at a top university said that within a very short time she could by playing any piece of music on the planet if she dedicated herself to the instrument. She has a natural talent that she has worked to develop. But there was only one problem. She looked at all these older unmarried men and women who have lived and breathed the piano and nothing else, who travel all over playing concerts and she thought, “Wait a minute. I don’t want that!” She wants a family. She wants to fill her life with children and service and develop her spiritual life and her moral life and bless others and volunteer and be active in church and live a well-rounded life. Such a single-focused life just wasn’t for her.

She’s still amazing at the piano and is still a piano major at a great music college, but has chosen to take the blinders off and see and experience so much more.

That’s the tough part. Do you choose to keep the blinders on and experience that kind of success in that particular way? Or do you become less able at a particular thing (playing piano, making money, whatever), but enjoy a more balanced life?

I never thought about the mosquitoes this way. When I was in the army, training in our hot and humid jungle was really a pain. We didn’t just have mosquitoes, we had commando mosquitoes. These do not die easily and they pierce even the our thick uniforms. I think they do not just come after you again and again, but they come at you with all their force and resources. That is what I hope to add to your post today. In life we must not just have that undying determination, we mus also grow ourselves to become commando mosquitoes with the greatest skills and competencies to take on the world.

Thanks for coming by and leaving a comment! And what an awesome comment! Thank you so much for adding to the original idea. “We must grow ourselves to become commando mosquitoes” I love that! But what a scary image at the same time!

That really is what life is all about, though, isn’t it! Learn and grow and develop and become ever more: ever wiser, ever healthier, ever stronger, ever happier, ever more amazing, reaching closer and closer to the potential that waits below the surface of our lives.

Thanks again for your thoughts. And come again whenever you get the itch! 🙂

Like the mosquito – a hard-hitting post. It is funny – I’ve told my son this several times. We believe that if we shut the windows and doors from 6 pm to 6.30 pm or so – it deters the mosquitos from entering. Then, at 6.30 when we open everything again, no problem. Aha, that’s what you thought. There’s this one maverick who has been waiting. Who knows, was already in the room, quiet, biding his time. He zooms in at us. We swipe, swat, do a shimmy-shimmy-shimmy – to no avail. Because he’s far smarter than we are. This goes on intermittently till bed time – which is variable – Vidur is off to sleep at 10.30 pm while Sury and I usually stay up till 11.30 or 12 – and yet, never manage to nab the mosqui. Which probably still lives on.

Now, I usually refer to the mosqui when Vidur gets bugged with trying something, or is about to give up. Obviously, he gets a little mad at me. He can even sense when I’ll start my “mosqui trip” as he calls it. I should make him read this post. I will send him the link!

I also refer to ants in this way. Ever tried deterring an ant from approaching something? No matter how many times you push it away, it will turn and come right back. I’ve actually done this a hundred times, and kept count. I mean – can one even compare its strength with a human being’s? Oh, but one can certainly compare its persistence 😀 And we human beings fall short so shamefully.

Wow Vidya! I don;t know how I missed this one or how long ago you wrote it (I guess I could look it up on the dashboard, but am going to be lazy instead). Thanks for the comment and sorry for what’s likely a hugely delayed reply! 🙂

I never thought of ants, but you’re so right. And when you finally are able to divert a path, the next day they are at it again. Such persistence! And such a great lesson for us. We can give up so easily when things don;t seem like they’re working, right?

I think I’ll work the mosquito story into the life lessons I’ll start sharing with my 6-year-old Jacob. We’ll see how “bugged” he gets when I go on my own “mosqui trip.” 🙂

I think that same mosquito must have been around my house a few times too! This post has confirmed the same message I keep getting from within over and over. Persistence and patience will pay off in the end. So many of life’s challenges get us side tracked, but with the development of a focused mind we can stay the course. Meditation has helped me tremendously with this.

Luckily I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the little critter since, Joshua. And it only took a few therapy sessions to end my nightmares about his dive-bombing tactics. Thanks for luring him to your home! 😉

You’re right about how easy it is to get sidetracked in life by challenges and difficulties. But it’s also true that so often it us who blow the difficulties out of proportion so that they have a large adverse effect on us than they otherwise would have.

I have to admit that while I often do some informal meditative stuff throughout the day when stress starts creeping in, I’ve never reaped the full benefits of a regular more formal meditation habit.

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My name is Ken Wert, the founder of M2bH. My purpose here is to teach you how to live a richer life of greater purpose and meaning, of mind-blowing possibility and deeper, more soul-satisfying happiness than you ever dreamt was possible. Join us on this happy adventure as you learn how to unlock your hidden potential to enjoy the rewards of a life well lived. Read more ...